Unincorporated business tax (UBT)

What activities are subject to this tax?

Unincorporated businesses include trades, professions, and certain occupations of an individual, partnership, limited liability company, fiduciary, association, estate, or trust. The business can be active or in the process of being liquidated.

If you have two or more unincorporated businesses, all are treated as one for the purpose of this tax.

Tax rates

A 4% tax rate is charged for taxable income allocated to New York City.

Who is exempt from this tax?

• A person who is performing services as an employee
• A person or entity, other than a dealer, who is only engaged in the purchase, holding, and sale of property for their own personal account (for example, a person who owns and rents a two-family house)
• An owner, lessee, or fiduciary who is engaged in holding, leasing, or managing real property for their own account
• Entities engaged primarily with qualifying investment activities are partially exempt from UBT on the income
• Associations and publicly traded partnerships treated as corporations for federal income tax purposes and “S Corps” are subject to the general corporation tax

Credits for tax years

A liability of $3,400 or less is allowed a credit for the full amount of the tax. Liabilities between $3,401 and $5,400 are allowed a partial credit.

Individual New York City residents are allowed to claim a credit against their NYC personal income tax for a portion of the UBT payments made as sole proprietors. The amount of the credit depends on the City resident’s taxable income for personal income tax purposes. Part-year residents receive a partial credit.